Bosniak Club to Veto Dodik's Law on Non-Application of BiH Constitutional Court Decisions

(Patria) - The Bosniak Club in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska will initiate the vital national interest protection mechanism, meaning it will veto the Bill on the Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in that entity. This was confirmed to Faktor by the President of the Bosniak People's Club, Alija Tabaković.

“On Monday or Tuesday next week, we will hold a club session and impose a veto, so there will be nothing in the next month from the entry into force of this law,” said Tabaković.

The request of the Bosniak Club will first be considered by the Council of Peoples, which, according to procedure, confirms every law adopted by the National Assembly of RS.

If a club of one of the three constituent peoples, Serbs, Bosniaks, or Croats, initiates the vital national interest protection mechanism, then these laws or decisions go for harmonization to the Joint Commission of the Council of Peoples and the National Assembly.

If an agreement is not reached there either, then the final decision on the disputed laws is made by the Constitutional Court of RS.

“We do not expect the Constitutional Court of RS to rule in our favor because at the National Assembly session itself, Džerald Selman, the president of this court controlled by Dodik, was present with Milorad Dodik. After that, we are left with the possibility of an extraordinary legal remedy – sending an appeal to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which can be done by members of the Presidency of BiH or an authorized number of parliamentarians at the state level,” says Tabaković.

We remind you that at the eighth special session, deputies of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska adopted the Bill on the Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Out of 65 present, 56 deputies voted for the adoption of the bill, and all were in favor.

No one was against, nor abstained. The ruling majority in the NSRS, consisting of the parliamentary clubs of SNSD, SP, DEMOS, United Srpska, NPS, and the parliamentary groups SPS and DNS, proposed Conclusions regarding the Bill on the Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was presented to the deputies under an urgent procedure at the proposal of the President of Republika Srpska, national deputies, and the Government.

The first conclusion states that “The National Assembly demands that, within the 14 priorities set by the EU, the issue of reforming the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e., the departure of foreign judges, be addressed as a priority and urgently, and that the Law on the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina be part of that reform”.

It is also stated that, in addition to the issue of reforming the Constitutional Court, the closure of the OHR should also be a priority.

“The National Assembly calls on all its elected representatives not to participate in discussions on resolving any of the other EU priorities until these two previously mentioned priorities are resolved,” it is stated.

In the second conclusion, the NSRS instructs the Government of RS to submit to it a Bill on Amending the Criminal Code of Republika Srpska, which will prescribe a special criminal offense for acting contrary to the provisions of the Law on the Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Conclusion number three states that the NSRS will adopt laws or other appropriate legal acts to take measures and actions against institutions and bodies of RS that act contrary to the provisions of the Law on the Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including measures for their abolition.